This free and easy program makes papers that help you tell a judge why you missed your court date or didnít answer a summons and complaint in a consumer debt case. You should only use this program if there is a default judgment against you in Supreme, County, City, Civil, District, Town or Village Court.

Information Checklist

You must know the following information to use this program:

Which court the case is in (like Supreme, or City Court)

Name of the plaintiff (found on the court papers)

Names of any employers who have garnished your salary

Names of any banks where your account is frozen

It is helpful to have the following information with you when you use this program:

Summons and Complaint. You need to know why you are being sued so you can tell the court why the plaintiff should not win the case.

Affidavit of Service. This will let you see how the plaintiff says you were served with the summons and complaint. If you see that the Affidavit of Service is not true this will help you with an improper service defense.

Index/Docket Number

Plaintiffís name

Defendantís name

You can get this information from the Court Clerk.

What You Get

When you finish, the program will decide what papers you need to ask the court to vacate the default judgment against you. This includes:

Order to Show Cause (City, District and Civil Court will make this for you at the courthouse)

Affidavit in Support of an Order to Show Cause

Proposed Answer (only if you need one)

Affidavit of Service

Request for Judicial Intervention (RJI) (only in Supreme and County Court)

Microsoft Word to properly view and print the completed court forms. If you do not have Word, you can download Word Viewer now for free and view and print Word documents, even if you donít have Word on your computer.

Note: You will be taken to our partner website called LawHelp Interactive.

You can "Sign Up to Save Your Work" or go directly to the program without signing up by clicking on "Get Started" or "Go". Then check to agree to the Terms of Use and click on "Continue" to begin the program.

NYS DIY Forms are only for court users who don't have a lawyer and legal services and pro bono attorneys and staff helping clients who cannot afford lawyers. Commercial use is prohibited and no one may charge for using these programs. When you begin the program, you will be asked to accept these terms of use.

This program was created by the New York State Courts Access to Justice Program.